Natural prostaglandins are potent inhibitors of basal as well as stimulated gastric acid production. A deficiency of prostaglandins of the E-type is involved in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease. Generally prostaglandins have usefulness therapeutically, not only for their antisecretory activity, but for their antihypertensive activity and have been employed as cardiovascular agents and as agents for inducing labor in pregnancies and in terminating pregnancies.
A difficulty encountered in making prostaglandins therapeutically effective has been due to poor bioavailability as to their antisecretory activity in dosage form and their instability in the dosage form.
In particular attempts to stabilize dosage forms of prostaglandins have been reported in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,823 which discloses dry preparations in which the prostaglandin is in a solid dispersion in polyvinylpyrrolidone at solid state; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,787 which discloses lyophilyzed pharmaceutical compositions containing prostaglandins, polyvinylpyrrolidone and succinic acid.
A number of the prostaglandins which may be incorporated in this invention as active ingredients have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,446.